"Now it's down to the skill of the bowlers and it's the fielders' job to back them up."

United's bowlers and fielders did just that to twice dismiss Sports, who were coming off consecutive wins, for two low scores.

"It was a fairly encouraging win, which was nice," Harding said.

"It's only our second win."

Harding put her team's dominance down to the quality of the bowling, with openers Jodie Spall and Kate Johnstone leading the way.

"They were nice and consistent," Harding said of Spall and Johnstone.

"None of their (Sports) batters got a roll on.

"That's the key.

"They certainly have batters who can score some runs."

After bowling Sports out the first time, United reached 151 on the back of quality innings from Deb Manietta (30), Spall (22) and Shannon Brackin (21).

"They were hitting the ball very sweetly," Harding said.

But it was no guarantee of outright points at that stage, given the way the competition has progressed this season so far. "With the ball we've got at the moment, teams are getting high scores so it's very difficult to know what a decent total is," Harding said.

"It's quite bouncy so boundaries are fairly common and the grounds are very dry."

Unlike the past two summers, balls are now racing across the vigoro grounds.